EPCOT's 'Heartbeat of Freedom' Fireworks Tag Set for July 4 After Luminous

Chi8411 days ago

Looks like Disney is finally becoming less of a headache to plan and visit. I hope this lasts until our next family trip!

GhostHost100011 days ago

Similarly I was able to easily get all my dining reservations some of which were at popular places that used to be difficult to get all at the exact same time each day. 5:30pm. First time that has happened to me

Aries197511 days ago

I have no insider info. I am just a mom who travels with a “tribe.” There will be 16 of us on our August trip. Our kids go back to school after labor so we very often travel 3rd/4th week of August due to pricing and lower crowds. This is the first time I called group dining 59 days out (60 days out was Juneteenth and they were closed) and got everything I asked for on the days I wanted. Including 2 tables of 8 at O’hana - timed to watch the MK fireworks, 4 tables of 4 at Beaches and Cream and a party of 16 at HoopDeeDoo. I am not complaining - I am thankful. I had an incredibly efficient and knowledgable cast member help me. But yes, bookings must be definitely down if my reservations are all at the same time vs 6:15, 6:30 and 6:45. And we are sitting 8 and 8 (obviously beaches and cream cannot accommodate a party of 8) vs 6+4+2+2+2.

mysto14 days ago

Hey if any of you hear that accounting shenanigans are about to be exposed please let us know. Asking for a friend.

MisterPenguin14 days ago

Saying current bookings of future reservations are up is a matter of fact that can be proved or disproved by paperwork. Faking the numbers of last quarter can land you in jail or paying tens of millions in fines. And maybe a stockholder suit. And loss of job. Future numbers based on projects could indeed be wrong without even the intent to be wrong, they're just educated guesswork. Future capex has been very publicly announced and is part of a handshake agreement with Florida and Anaheim. You don't very publicly promise it and then not go through with it. (Especially since we see the capex being spent right now on refreshed rides, new attractions, and new shows.) Also, the following years' financial statements will show that you're a big fat liar if you don't spend the capex you promised. Projecting an overly rosy future will bite you in the behind if it doesn't pan out. The financials of the next few quarters will show that... you're a big fat liar. This works both ways. In order to make the conspiratorial claim that WDW hides away wings of their resorts to make their attendance rate look good is a moronic argument because it needs to be made quarter after quarter to keep up the claim that Disney is failing. But you can't keep closing off wings of hotels quarter after quarter... there'd be no rooms left.

JMcMahonEsq14 days ago

It tells me they are just another tin hat internet conspiracy theorist, just shouting nonsense with no facts. I mean sure the sec, internal auditors, external auditors, the activist shareholders, the board challengers, none of them have any evidence, but someone from your mom’s basement have the real truth. It’s like people talking about bein surprised with earning reports or attendance figures. It’s not that they are surprised, it’s you have no real clue. They have no real access to numbers or data. But they see a YouTube clip, or can find a reservation on line and all of a sudden they know attendance is down

Jrb197914 days ago

What people are saying is not so much they are fudging the billions they made or faking the numbers of last quarter attendance. What people are saying is future numbers can be fudged in terms of future bookings, or capex.

Chi8414 days ago

It tells me there’s no evidence. Or it could be a Pixie Dust conspiracy.

MisterPenguin14 days ago

Not to mention Chapek is being sued for the claim of moving money around to make D+ (at that time) look better. That's what happens when you fudge the numbers. Either the SEC or the shareholders come after you. To anyone who thinks Disney is doing monkey business with their financials: Drop the dime on them. Report it to the SEC. Oh, what's that? I've been saying that for over a decade and no one has actually reported anything that led to an investigation? What does that say?

Sirwalterraleigh14 days ago

I think that is agreed upon by everyone now… But what’s it doing? Option A: “it’s so magical and everyone loves yet another great disney product!!” Option B: it’s covering for the losses they’re taking across the board on a day to day basis…but until that dries up we won’t have any definitely evidence of how the sausage is being made? I’m 50/50 on which option I’m leaning towards 😎 I’ll say this about lighting lane…they have managed to make easy money. It’s not the first or last time something they did has succeeded beyond reasonable expectations. It’s Disney…they get that benefit a lot. LL is literally money for zero cost…none It’s the second biggest racket lb for lb in the park. Impressive for sure.

Sirwalterraleigh14 days ago

The last part is key… So they surprised us. That happens all the time. But what about next quarter? We’re talking very light park attendance (there really is no way to deny it…hell, the head of this board just said it - which isn’t often seen), bombing movies more than the IRA…and a lot of overall economic uncertain that has resulted in a reduction of discretionary spending this year (that is as fact) due in part to happy Gilmores crazy unhinged economic ramblings and daily flip flopping. Not at all good for a high price leisure peddler, is it? So we shall see what the cards say this time?

HauntedPirate14 days ago

LL revenue is doing a lot of heavy lifting. IMHO.

Dranth14 days ago

I don't disagree with a lot of that but, you can only BS so long before the numbers just don't agree with what you are saying. For example, let's say they lied about attendance being up last quarter. Okay, then you would expect to see a drop in revenue for the segment. If there isn't one, people ask questions. Management could very well have an answer, even a good one, that makes sense, but that only works for so long without lying on your actual filings. If they keep saying attendance is up quarter after quarter yet revenue (which we see and know about price increases) keeps dropping disconnected from costs (which we see) we know something is off. As for the numbers themselves, sure, there is a lot of accounting black magic you can do, but it still doesn't hold up over time. Combine that with Disney being willing to admit and even mention when bookings are down repeatedly over the years (including recently) and I see no reason to currently doubt them on that point. I was one of the folks that was very much expecting attendance to be down in the last report, it wasn't. So, either I made a wrong assumption, or they are lying. Given the track record of their reporting, I see no reason to currently doubt them. None of that means they don't have problems. They obviously do, it just didn't manifest in the way many of us thought it would last quarter.

MisterPenguin14 days ago

You mean like when your streaming service loses $1.5B in one quarter and you say everything's great?